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Preserving Our Historic Resources

The Department of Public Works is dedicated to the preservation of Prince William County's historic resources. Our Historic Preservation Division staff serve as the caretakers of County-owned historic structures, interiors, archaeological resources, natural resources, historic landscapes, artifacts and collections. We also help build community identity through telling the story of our community.

Staff recognizes the critical role we play in caring for our historic treasures and traditions. This role benefits our community, our state and our nation. We take this responsibility very seriously and strive to fulfill the need to identify, protect, preserve and rehabilitate historic sites for public use and posterity.

Our goal is to show the connections between our history, our present, our future and our growth as a community. We pledge to:

Bring history to life and to light through interpretation, research, living history, special events, lectures and exhibits

Invite and train citizen volunteers so they can learn about our community’s past and share it with their fellow citizens and neighbors

Provide a tourism destination to promote Prince William County and economic development

Many people have called Prince William County home. Our rich heritage features a diversity of cultures spanning hundreds of years from:

a long prehistory of American Indians to . . .

the early contact of American Indians with English settlers to . . .

the establishment and expansion of the English colonies to . . .

the foundation of a new nation to . . .

the horror of an American Civil War to . . .

the struggles and victories of an enslaved community to . . .

the healing of a nation to . . .

the industrial revolution to . . .

the step into the 20th and 21st centuries.

Our staff interprets the lives and struggles of all people, as well as the events and places in our community's history. Please join us to learn and appreciate the importance of the very community where you live and its contributions to the history of our nation.

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​Tidbits of History

Brentsville is named after the Brent Town Tract, a 30,000 acre land grant in 1687 that was originally intended to be a colony for Huguenot and Catholic settlers.